Investigations are underway after a protester attending a candlelight vigil for Stephon Clark was hit by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s SUV as demonstrators marched through the streets Saturday night.
The injured protester, local activist Wanda Cleveland, was released from the hospital early Sunday morning with minor bruises to her arm and the back of her head, the Sacramento Bee reported. The incident was the latest tense encounter between law enforcement and activists since Clark’s fatal shooting on March 18.
Witnesses and Cleveland said the sheriff’s vehicle fled the scene after striking her, leaving the grandmother immobile and laying in the streets until a fire department crew rushed to her aid. The collision was caught on camera by several demonstrators in the area.
Police in Sacramento just hit a #StephonClark protester with their car. Livestream from the scene – https://t.co/0VFoNHuRMq
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) April 1, 2018
“He never even stopped. It was a hit and run,” Cleveland said at the hospital. “If I did that I’d be charged.”
“It’s disregard for human life,” she added.
Sheriff’s department spokesman Sgt. Shaun Hampton confirmed the incident in a Sunday morning press release, saying the patrol vehicle was traveling at “slow speeds” when the collision happened. It also noted that the car sustained “scratches, dents and a shattered rear window,” thanks to “vandals in the crowd.”
Footage captured by local station Channel 10 shows a sheriff’s vehicle approach with lights flashing as protesters marched in the street. That’s when nearly three dozen demonstrators surrounded the car and started chanting, prompting the sheriff’s deputy to sound his siren and instruct the crowd to back away from the vehicle.
The first vehicle leaves the scene without incident. Moments later, a second sheriff’s vehicle is seen accelerating, striking Cleveland as she makes her way to the curb.
“I heard wheels spin. And then I saw her body flung to the curb,” Tifanei Ressl-Moyer, a legal observer who witnessed the incident, told the Sacramento Bee. “The vehicle sped off and some protesters went after them.”
The California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident while the sheriff’s department conducts an internal investigation, according to the press release.
Dozens of protesters turned out Saturday to demand justice for Clark, 22, who was shot 8 times by police in his grandparents’ backyard earlier this month.
“It’s a phone, not a gun,” demonstrators chanted in memory of the unarmed man.
